TRICKS OF THE MIND.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 13

TRICKS OF THE MIND.

DREAMS AND SOMNAMBULISM. A BISHOP'S CHALLENGE TO , SPIEITUALISTS. Dr. Mercer, the Bishop of Tasmania, delivered the second of lie lectures on "The Sub-conscious Hind," before a large audience in the Chaptor-house, at St. Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, on March 3. He said one well-known writer had referred to the normal mind as a chamber, at the door of which officers preserved order, allowing cortain officials to cross the threshold, but keeping the crowd back. When the doorkeepers did not do their duty, howover, and some of tlie crowd broke in, then began the phenomena of the abnormal mind.

Dr. Mercer proceeded to Teviow cases of special faculty, paying particular attention to infant prodigies. Dreams that were a little on the side of the abnormal were also discussed, and the lecturer gave a personal experience. When he was a young man he went under ether, and suddenly discovered that he was at the centre of the universe. The whole umiveree had been dissolved into atoms that were grouped in twos and threes, and were throbbing in a rhythm apparently communicated by the beating of, his heart. One of the groups suggested the word "happy" and the other the w.ord "unhappy," and his predicament was that he had to choose one of them, and he did not know which was which. After he regained consciousness he forgot the dream, but went about for. days under a tremendous sense of undischarged responsibility. Later on the whole dream suddenly Hashed into his mind, and the unaccountable weight that he had laboured under disappeared. That was, he said, a rather; remarkable illustration of the working of the subconscious mind. Had the thing been persistent, he might have become melancholy mad. Then there was delirium. When a sick man lost control over his mind'e actictns there followed those terrible ravings. That was an abnormal state of mind, in which thoughts thronged the threshold without anyone being there to thrust, them back again, into the eubconscious area. Of that mysterious disease called hysteria wo did not know ; as much as we should. Special attention had been devoted to.,the subject in France, but many of the experiments on hysterical patients had been made by hysterical doctors, and it was difficult to know what to believe. . ■-, ' . Died of-Fright. -Somnambulism involved a' wonderful action of the sub-conscious, mind. A man, while asleep,, walked along a narrow coping in safety, but let his' conscious mind get into operation and he was in peril. Dr.' Mercer said that ho remembered the caso of a man in Switzerland who, rodo across a frozen lako in winter. When ho awoke on the other side and suddenly realised what he had done tho man died of fright. :"Personally," commented the lecturer, with a twinkle in his eyo, "i do not know that I should have done what the man did after having negotiated the track across' the lake, but he apparently, thought that it was the proper thing to do." ' So far as hypnotism was concerned he did not know how far he could subscribe to the modern theory, for he had a sort of an idea that two out of every three of tho patients were shamming. Tho enormous power of suggestion could not bo overlooked, but on telepathy and these sorts of things ho would be hard to convince. Visualising—the power of producing a distinct vision in tho eye or tho mind—was also included within the scope iOf the subject. Some of the. chess players, who played game's blindfolded, were very good visualisers. It was' possible, he thought, to seo images in crystals, but ho did not believe, that there, was anything occult about it 'It was, possible to have a distinct, power . of ..visualising, and to seo pictnres in crystals or globes when the sub-conscious mind was a,t work. Hallucinations were an extension of the power of visualising.. Split personality,'he would deal with from, an evolutionary point of view. If the audience believed that personality.was-built up as:the body was .built up, and that .'personality having been built up could be unbuilt, then they would arrive at. the■ possibility- of split personality. -.■■ He. did not.'say that personality was nothing. more than > the adding ot' something to something, but the point,.was that : it , would depend on how rapidly or how far tho personality was being. changed; as to whether there was a sense of continuity or' not. So . long as . the stationary parts, comparatively speaking, . - were in excess of the_ changing;,parts, there was maintained a distinct grip of,personality. He had igono about with' his umbrella under his arm looking for it everywhere. Was it. not true that his arm and its sensations were split off from his chief personality? They were told by people wounded in battle that there was no sensation of wounding until the excitement had passed off, or the presence'of blood showed that something was wrong. Mr. Stead said that certain writings came from his son, but the explanation rather seemed to be that they came from a part of himself, independent of his main self. TTnassimilated sensations, an idea that someone was calling when the normal brain knew that it was not so, but the subnormal brain took the impression, were also romarkable.

A Man Who Haunted Himself. In this connection there was on record an extraordinary case of a man who haunted himseli. "Bodies possessed :of demons,", continued Dr. Mercer, "Ah, what of them. I do not.believe in them, but believo rather that the person really haunts himself." . ■ . Loss of personal memory, and cases of multiple personality were also reviewed, and preceded more lengthy reference to spiritualism. Dr. Mercer said'that he only attended one spiritualistio seance; and that was in Manchester, and was a failure. "I do not wish to deny," he said, "that we'may bo in sight of some strange phenomena of sub-conscious mind or some other mind, but you and I must not be gullible. It is not right or wise that we should yield too much to emotionalism, and sink the critical faculty, and believe all manner of things which have little or no foundation in fact." , "I have a challenge to issue to the spiritualists," he continued. "I am not a scoffer; rather the reverse. I have intonse sympathy .with every effort to extend the area of human knowledge and experience. lam willing to nominate two doctors to examiu* any person the Spiritualists ' like to put forward, this person to bo then locked up in a room previously examined and, with which he has had nothing to do, and then to prove whether there is anything in his powers. Or, further, I challenge them to produce within 24 hours of the time it is printed, a copy of a London newspaper. Let them do either of these things, and I will say that there is something in Spiritualism. (Applause.) ■ Passing from what he • termed a "somewhat controversial subject," Dr. Mercer said that he had endeavoured to show that there were stages from the perfect and the.normal to the absolutely abnormal. What was this sub-conscious mind? There wore two or three answers. Add evolution to personal idealism and they would get what ho called evolutionary idealism, or idealistio evolution. Put very briefly, it amounted to this, that Goil had projected from Himself a world. "That world," Dr. Morcer continued, "is spirit, absolute spirit, but it is revealed to you and to mo in two aspects—matter and mind. My theory, of the universe will gradually increase the amount of consciousness it possesses, until in the full possession, and absolute moral and spiritual self-consciousness, it. recognises the central absolute mind as ifs source and its'goal." ■